Game Design: Hidden Utility of Depletion

Sometimes you think something is really straightforward, and then subtle ambiguity in wording will turn whatever you thought before on its head. I just realized what was possible with the Depletion power this morning.

DEPLETION [Standard]
Activate +1 reserve, and target player must exile +1 resource of greater value. If there are no eligible resources, the player must instead exile +1 destiny.

The concept of controlling a card, present in Magic and many other games based on it, doesn’t apply the same way in Norvendae. There is a basic rule that you “never touch another player’s cards,” but that doesn’t mean you can’t do horrible, horrible things to them. For instance, activate them to initiate Depletion.

I realized, in my effort to make Depletion as straightforward as possible, I’d written an ambiguity into it, such that a player needn’t control the reserve they activate. They merely need to commit the necessary resources to activate it. An entire game may be played with exactly one card in any player’s field — whoever sponsors the first card.

Speaking of which (and I’m sure this morning’s realization was based on this), I’ve jokingly mentioned in the past that a player may choose to sponsor another player’s resource for the field. The game may well have achieved another layer of strategy. Sponsor another player’s cards and use them to deplete resources!

Of course, if you use another player’s reserve to deplete them, they’re always in a position to forfeit the reserve to negate the effects of the Depletion, but still. Talk about’cher influence and manipulation! This is a game of Xanatos Gambits!